Jim Newell

Apparently Barack Obama's not-sexy-enough photo of him swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, designed to show its safety for tourists, was not technically taken in the Gulf — just an inner bay, where all water is from the Gulf. Caught!

The Gulf Coast: Devastated by hurricanes and oil spills. But nothing can compare to the latest…
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The Independent's Guy Adams notes that Alligator Point in St. Andrew's Bay is not technically part of the Gulf of Mexico, so it doesn't count, and Obama is a terrible liar again. (The Gulf beach proper was closed Saturday for riptides.)

Still, uh, the oil could've gone a few extra feet to Obama and his daughter if it was so omnipresent:

St. Andrews Bay lacks input from any major river system, but does receive freshwater from numerous creeks, bayous and wastewater treatment plants. The restricted amount of freshwater allows the influence of Gulf of Mexico water to dominate the bay. Connection with the Gulf is via two passes on the eastern and western ends of Shell Island.

So if oil was a problem on the beach a few hundred yards away, it would've managed to coat Obama's sexy, sexy chest even in this secret not-Gulf cove of his, where he was just trying to swim with his daughter on vacation.